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The Verb "Ser" vs. the Verb "Estar"

"To be, or not to be?" was Hamlet's perplexing question. The Spanish student must grapple with a similar one: "Which 'to be' to use?"

The are several instances in Spanish where one English word (or tense) can be translated two different ways in Spanish ("Por" vs. "Para," Imperfect vs. Preterite, "Ser" vs. "Estar") and the decision you make can have an impact on the meaning of the sentence. Translating from Spanish to English is not a problem because both "ser" and "estar" translate to some form of "to be." Translating from English to Spanish on the other hand is much more difficult because a decision needs to be made on which of the two words to use.

Before we get too much further, let's take a quick look at the (present tense) conjugations of both verbs:

"Ser" is completely irregular, and "estar" has an irregular "yo" form along with accented endings in all but the "nosotros" and "vosotros" forms.

The Easy Way

So how do we decide which verb to use? Here's a simple way to look at things:

Estar

An easy way to think about the verb "estar" is to use it to describe temporary conditions and locations. Conditions can be mental, emotional, or physical states of people, animals, and objects. Locations are quite simply where something or someone is.

Pepe y Pablo están en mi dormitorio.
Emilia está enferma.

"Pepe and Pablo are in my room." This sentence describes someone's location so "están" (not "son") is used. "Emilia is sick." This sentence is talking about Emilia's physical condition so "está" (not "es") is used.

In both of these situations the condition mentioned is temporary. Presumably Pepe and Pablo won't always be in my room; hopefully Emilia won't always be sick.

A little rhyme will help you to remember this rule: "To say how you feel and where you are, you should use the verb "estar."

On the other hand...

Ser

Since "estar" deals with temporary conditions, that leaves "ser" as the verb to use for more permanent situations. Generally speaking, "ser" is used when dealing with "inherent characteristics." That's a fancy way of saying things which are not likely to change.

Mi coche es amarillo.
Sus hermanos son muy delgados.

"My car is yellow." This is not likely to change. The car probably has been yellow for some time and will continue to be yellow into the future. We wouldn't expect it to suddenly be another color tomorrow. "Her brothers are very thin." Again, this is a state that we wouldn't expect to change quickly. When we think of these brothers, we think of them as being thin and don't expect them to rapidly put on weight.

Notice that in these examples it's not impossible that the characteristics would change (cars are repainted all the time, and thin people sometimes get bigger). It's just unlikely to expect that they would soon.

The Exception: Events

It wouldn't be a rule if it didn't have an exception, right? In spite of the fact that it deals with a location, we use "ser" rather than "estar" to talk about where and when events will take place.

La fiesta es en la casa de Alejandro.
Los partidos de futbol son en el estadio.

"The party is at Alejandro's house." "The soccer games are at the stadium." Both of these situations might feel like we should be using a form or "estar," since we're dealing with where these things are happening, but we use "ser" with events. Think of "ser" as meaning "to be" or "to take place."

The More Accurate Way

It's not really too different than the easy way discussed above, but it's more accurate to think of the difference between "ser" and "estar" as coming down to what peoples' perceptions are. What are they expecting?

We use "ser" to talk about things that we would perceive of as being expected or normal.

El café es caliente.
Las montañas son altas.

"Coffee is hot." That's how we want and expect our coffee to be. "The mountains are high." We wouldn't call them "mountains" otherwise; we expect them to be high.

On the other hand, we use "estar" when we we're talking about things unexpected or outside of the norm.

¡El café está frío!
¡Las montañas están muy altas!

"The coffee is cold!" "Está" is used (instead of "es") because we don't normally think of coffee as being cold. The temperature was unexpected. "The mountains are very high!" "Están" is used here (rather than "son") to show that the mountains are even taller than we previously imagined.

Differences in Meaning

So, as you can see, you choice of using either "estar" or "ser" can have an impact on the rest of the sentence. Certain adjectives will convey different meanings based on which verb they're paired with:

La manzana es verde.
La manzana está verde.

The first sentence uses "ser" so we're talking about an inherent characteristic of the apple. It should be translated, "The apple is green," meaning simply that the color of the apple is green. The second sentence uses "estar" so we're dealing with its current condition. This sentence should be translated something along the lines of, "The apple is not ripe," meaning that it still needs to ripen up and turn red. Another example:

¿Cómo eres tú?
¿Cómo estás tú?

Both of these sentences could be translated exactly the same way in English, "How are you?" However, since the first sentence uses a form or "ser," the implied question is not "How are you right now?" but "How are you usually?" or better yet, "What are you like?" The second question is the more familiar "How are you?" or "How are you doing?"

Some others examples:

Notes

• All of the "ser" vs. "estar" rules which apply to the present tense apply to
  other tenses as well: La boda será en la catedral.
• "Ser" is used when talking about the time: ¿Qué hora es? Son las diez.
• "Ser" is used when talking about possession: El coche es de Pancho.
• "Ser" is used when talking about occupation: ¿Qué eres, Manuel? Soy abogado.
• "Ser" is used when talking about origin: Marta es de Honduras.
• "Ser" is used when talking about material used: Mis anillos son de oro.
• "Ser" is also used in some passive voice constructions: La puerta fue cerrada.